House prices fall back, says survey

House prices fell back from a record high in September with the first month-on-month decrease in more than a year, building society Nationwide has reported.

A fall of 0.2 per cent took the average UK property price to £188,374, edging down from the all-time peak of £189,306 recorded in August.

The monthly price decrease follows 16 months in a row of increases and ends the run of property prices across the country hitting fresh highs over the summer.

Typical UK house prices surpassed their 2007 peak in cash terms in May this year and up until this month they had been reaching new records ever since.

Year-on-year house price growth slowed to 9.4 per cent in September, from 11 per cent in August. Year-on-year price growth had previously been hitting double digits since April, according to the building society’s study.

Despite the slowing pace of house price growth, every region across the UK recorded year-on-year house price gains, from 21 per cent in London to 4.3 per cent in the north of England.

At £401,072 on average, London house prices reached a new record high in September and now stand at 31% above their 2007 pre-financial crisis peak in the capital.